This is a HAAAARRRRDDDDD topic! It sounds so simple, but it is deep and profound. A Happy Musician Thinks About Money, But Knows It’s Not The Most Important Thing— The Dalai Lama says, “It is better to want what you have than to have what you want.” Okay, stop. I need to unravel my pretzeled-out […]

Because…you get a three day weekend! Wait, don’t shoot—uh, I mean, pass the freedom fries. Can the world tolerate my bad jokes? Can I? *** Ronald Reagan signed the MLK holiday into law in 1983, and it came into effect in 1986. That always seemed strange to me, that Ronald Reagan would do that. Because […]

Breath deep. Pray. Sweat. Cross Your Fingers. Try to forget about it. Get to the front of the line when they call for children and pregnant women to board. Keep your head down. Act casual. Act like you own the place. Act like a tourist. Pretend you have no idea what they’re talking about. Fake […]

A few months ago I discovered this book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”, by Dr. Carol S. Dweck. I’m pretty sure I heard about it from Derek Sivers blog post “Fixed Mindset vs Growth Mindset”. Here’s a basic summary from Derek’s post: It’s a little bit like “nature vs nurture”: People in a fixed mindset believe […]

I love office supply stores. They give me that ‘I can do anything!’ feeling. I usually just walk out with a tiny pocket sized notebook to jot down ideas, but that’s okay. Music stores on the other hand, they make me nervous. Excited but nervous. Music stores are full of big decisions. Even the cheapest […]

Taylor Swift decided to not put her music on Spotify last week and the music world is all a-buzz. The issue of content creators (that warm and fuzzy catch phrase for artists of all stripes) not getting paid for their work is a very hot topic right now, at least among artists. I hope […]

As I was walking to work one beautiful San Francisco Monday morning, I tuned in to KQED’s Forum with Michael Krasny. The topic was the issue of restaurants in the Bay Area wanting to do away with the tip-based system and going with a 20% gratuity fee. The conversation got into all kinds of complicated areas […]

Corporations are alive and you are their meal ticket. You think you are safe but you’re not really. Not in this new world. How much is a pound of flesh worth? Your flesh. Because that’s what we’re talking about. Money and human flesh. Body parts: severed arms, crushed legs, mangled hands, droopy skin, […]

What?! I learned about this when I got to work on Monday. My first thought was: ”Does Denzel know?” +++++++++++++++++++++ I went to the movies last weekend with my wife. “Two for Denzel,” I said when we got to the counter. “Oh, you mean the Equalizer,” said the college-age cashier. “Yes,” I said. Tickets were […]